


Hell Breaks Loose

by Redgrave_Writer



Category: Original Work
Genre: Dog - Freeform, Fantasy, Magic, Magic Revealed, Modern Era, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-01
Updated: 2020-07-01
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:27:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25019260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Redgrave_Writer/pseuds/Redgrave_Writer





	Hell Breaks Loose

It started to rain as Sara stepped off the curb. She pulled her coat close and brushed her long black hair behind her ear as she hurried across the street to her apartment. She squeezed between two cars that were parallel parked and dodged around a parking meter. A huge blue lightning bolt ripped through the clouds and collided with a distant skyscraper, causing the rain to pour down harder. Thunder vibrated everything around her as she got to her door. She slid the key in and rushed inside slamming the door behind her. She stood there dripping wet cursing the storm’s inconvenience.

“I hate New York” she grumbled darkly as she started taking off her coat. “Always have, always will. . .”

A whimper came from her feet, she flicked the light switch on to see her golden retriever sitting there.

“Hey Markus, where you a good boy while mommy was gone?”

Markus whimpered again and pawed at her leg.

“Ok, I get it,” Sara crouched down and started scrunching his ears “How’s that?”

Markus grumbled and cocked his head into her hand, eyes shut in content.

“Yea . . . alright let me get out of the wet clothes and then we can watch a movie.” She went to stand up and slipped in the puddle that formed under her. Markus took advantage of the floored Sara and started licking the water off her face.

“Oui, Markus! Knock it off! Ahhh!” Sara wrestled with her playful dog till he was satisfied and wondered off to lie on the couch. “Stupid dog” she glared mockingly at him.

She walked in to her laundry room and stripped of all her drenched clothes and dropped them in the washer. She hugged herself as she started to shiver. She went to the thermostat and moved the dial up to 80. She walked into her room opened the dresser and pulled out a too big shirt and some underwear. She dressed and grabbed a blanket from her bed and wrapped it around herself.

“What do you want to watch Markus?” Sara yelled as she walked to the fridge. She looked into the living room to see Markus lying on his back asleep. 

“Ok, guess it’s up to me . . .” She yanked the fridge open and grabbed a Dr. Pepper kicking the door shut as she walked away.

She grabbed Transformers of the shelf and went to the T.V. and squatted down. She placed her drink on the floor and hit the eject button on her Xbox 360. The tray hissed out holding Halo 3. She took it out and stuck it in its case and returned it to her stack of games.

“Last chance Markus, what do you wanna watch?”

The dog grumbled and rolled over, putting his paw over his face.

“Fine, have it your way”

She put Transformers in and hit close. She picked up her Dr. Pepper and flopped down on the side of her corner couch that faced the T.V. She cracked open the can and took a deep breath in.

“Mmm . . . .” She breathed as she took a sip. She put it down on the coffee table and picked up the 360 controller and hit play. She laid down and got all snuggly under her blanket.

Markus sat up stretched, yawned and nosed his way under the blanket.

“Oh, so now that I’m comfy and warm your awake” Sara said as he crawled his way up “go figure” Markus put his head on her pillow and went back to sleep. “You lazy ass” Sara said as she went back to watching her movie.

The afternoon sun crept threw the blinds and onto Sara’s face. She groaned and sat up. She tried to make out the time on the clock but couldn’t see it through the morning blur, she rubbed her eyes and tried again. 12:45

“Markus! Why didn’t you wake me up?” she groaned.

Markus trotted in from the kitchen with his bowl in his mouth. He put it on the ground, barked and stared at Sara.

“Dammit dog, I just woke up, besides, I’ve got something better then dog food planned for breakfast.” She said as she headed into the kitchen.

Markus looked down at his bowl with a confused look, picked it up and brought it with him when he followed. He sat down and stared up at Sara as she wondered around the kitchen preparing breakfast.

“Chill. . . You’ll get fed, and give me that bowl, you won’t need it” Sara took the bowl and put it on top of the fridge.

Markus laid down and put his head on his paws.

After a few minutes Sara picked up two plates and walked back into the living room.

“Here you go boy, eggs and bacon with a side of toast” she put one plate on the floor and the other on the coffee table. “How ‘bout some T.V. while we eat, eh” She grabbed the remote and hit the power button, then she worked on her breakfast.

“In other news, a body was found in Central Park, police are unsure if it was a murder or an animal attack due to the graphic nature of the mauling. NYPD has yet to release the identity or any other facts relating to the incident. . .”

“Enough of that” said Sara as she flipped the channel.

“Here at NY General there have been five reported bite injuries, with reports filing in from other hospitals all around New York, but the strange part is that these are not animal bites, but human bites. . .”

“Damn, what is up today” Sara hit the video button and turned on her 360 “too much violent news for me” she got up and walked to her pile of games “what to play . . .hmmm . . .Halo, no, Mass Effect, naw, Left 4 Dead. . . .” she stopped as a sudden wave of thought came over her. “No, it can’t be . . . zombies aren’t even real . . . it has to be a hoax, or just some weirdo group.” With that she dismissed the thought and popped in BioShock.

Several lives and swear words later Markus started growling at the closed door of the laundry room.

“What is it Markus?”

He started barking and growling angrily while scratching at the door.

“That bad, eh?” Sara said concerned. She paused the game and went over to her shelf that held her katana rack picked one up and un-sheathed it.

“Here goes nothing . . .” Sara said as she slowly opened the door.

Markus pushed past her and ran into the darkness.

“Urg, damn dog!” Sara groaned “One of these days your ganna run into something I can’t get you out of!” she hit the light switch and ran in with the katana at the ready. “What the hell dog, there’s nothing in here!” She looked down at Markus who was staring into the crack between the washer and dryer with his heckles raised.

“What you got? A squirrel?” Sara crept closer to take a look.

Suddenly a small fire ball erupted from the crevice and hit Markus in the nose which sent him running out of the room whimpering.

“What the fuck was that!” Sara yelped jumping back, katana at the ready.

A tiny human like figure walk out and started spouting gibberish in a high pitched voice. Its dark red skin was leathery and covered in patches of scales. It was skinny and had small grey horns on top of his head and a long tail. The creature turned its head and stared at Sara with big black eyes and started spouting more gibberish only this time a little more panicked.

Sara’s eyes widened with disbelief at what she was seeing.

The creature sneered at her with its pointy teeth and shot another fire ball from its hands, this one directed straight at her.

She dodged out of the way just in time for it to fly past her and into the circuit box causing all the lights in her apartment to go dead.

“You little bastard!” she yelled lunging towards him swinging the katana.

There was a small “pop” right before the sword decapitated it and all that was left was a cloud of smoke “Where’d it go? I’ll kill it! Arg, the coward ran!”

She got up and ran into the living room to find Markus, who was cowering under the coffee table.

“Come here boy, let me see your nose.” Sara said softly as she kneeled down.

Markus crawled out and put his head on her leg. Sara leaned her head in closer to inspect the damage.

“Awe, poor doggy, did the mean thingy singe your nosy?” Sara “Yea . . . you’ll be missin’ hair there for awhile boy”

A loud buzzing noise filled the air and Markus dived back under the table.

“Silly dog, it’s just my phone” She got up, ran into the kitchen, and picked it up off the counter. She flipped it open to see who was calling. It was her best friend Justin, but it was just a missed call alert. She quickly hit the call button and held the phone to her ear.

“Hello?” Justin answered after a few rings.

“Justin! What the hell is going on?!”

“Have you not been watching the news?”

“No, I can’t. I was attacked by this, this . . . this imp thing. It threw a fire ball at my head! A FUCKING FIRE BALL!”

“Sara, calm down. What do you mean ‘an imp thing’?”

“Look Justin, can I just come over, my power is out and I’m kinda scared to be alone right now.”

“Yea, of course, just be careful, there are crazy things are going on.”

“Thank you, oh and can Markus come to?”

“Yea, you know I love your dog.”

“Thanks Just, I owe you big time. See you when I get there.”

“Kay, peace.”

Sara hung up the phone and headed to her room to get dressed. She pulled on some snug jeans, a tighter shirt and her steel toe boots.

“Come on Markus, we gotta be ready for anything buddy.” She said as she sheathed the katana and tied it to her belt. She then walked to the closet and pulled out her black trench coat to hide the sword “Markus!” she said as she opened the door.

He trotted over and followed her out the door. Together the hurried down the street towards Justin’s apartment.

“I don’t like this boy.” Sara commented to Markus “There’s practically no one around, how do you not bump into people in New York City?” She pulled her coat closer and started walking faster.

They were only a couple of blocks away and skirting the edge of Central Park when the ground started to shake violently.

Sara lost her balance and fell over and Markus rushed to her side standing guard. After a few seconds it stopped and she was able to stand back up.

“What the hell was that about?” she asked as she looked up to the sky.

Black smoke seemed to be rising out of the center of the park.

“Well that can’t be good, let’s hurry up, eh?”

They got to Justin’s door right as another tremor ripped through the ground. Sara braced herself on the door frame.

“Justin, open up!” Sara banged on the door as the vibrations subsided “it’s Sara!”

“Ok, ok, I heard you!” Justin said as he swung the door open “get in here.”

They went into his living room and Sara collapsed onto his couch.

“What is going on . . .” Sara asked exhaustedly.

“Well, I can tell you what the earthquake was.” Justin said as he flipped on the T.V.

“We are now going live to our eyes in the sky Copter Cam, Jim can you tell us what is going on out there?”

“Well Cindy, at approximately 8 this morning a rift opened in the middle of Central Park and has been growing larger every hour, it is currently about a mile long, ripping right through the heart of the park.”

The screen showed a huge gash that was glowing red through the black smoke that was pouring out.

“Oh my god . . .” Sara exclaimed as she stood up from the couch.

“Wow. That sure is an amazing view Jim.”

“Yes it is Cindy . . . wait a minute, it seems that something is disturbing the smoke. It looks big!”

On the screen a huge figure broke through the wall of smoke and sped towards the helicopter.

“HOLY SHI . . .” Jim started to scream right before the camera cut to static and they heard the screech of metal and a large crash from outside.

“Sorry about that folks, but our Copter Cam seems to be having some technical difficulty at the moment.” Cindy cut in through the static “And once again, we are urging New York Residents to stay inside until this threat has passed.”

“Justin . . . was that . . . a dragon?” Sara asked stunned

“Um . . . it sure looked like it. . .”

Another deafening screech cut through the air causing Sara and Justin to cover their ears.

Sara rushed to the window and pulled open the blinds to see a huge bat like dragon hanging on to the Empire State building. It screeched again and shot a jet of fire into the sky.

“Justin . . .” Sara said as she slowly backed away from the window “. . . are you seeing this too? I’m not crazy right?”

“No Sara, you’re not crazy . . . but something tells me things might get…”

They both spun around as a loud crash came from the kitchen.

“Were ya ganna say ‘worse’ Justin? Please tell me that’s not what you were going to say.”

“Where did that come from?” Justin asked when he noticed Sara holding her katana.

“You told me to be careful, so I brought protection”

“Alright then, you go first.”

“Thanks, you’re such a gentleman.” Sara said sarcastically as she moved towards the kitchen.

Sara peered around the door frame into the kitchen. On the floor was a smashed bowl and fruit scattered all around. She quickly moved into the door way and looked around. Over by the fridge she saw the cause of the noise.

There was a large four legged creature pawing at the fridge door. It was slightly bigger than a wolf and instead of fur it was covered in grey scales that were the size of dinner plates.

“This isn’t going to work” Sara mumbled.

“What do you mean?”

“Look.”

Justin stepped behind her and looked over her shoulder.

“What the hell is that.” he hissed.

“I’m more worried about what we are going to do with it.”

Just then the creature gave up on its inter-fridge endeavor, turned to leave and spotted Sara and Justin. It bared its’ fangs at them and started to snarl.

“Well, it’s definitely not friendly.”

“Thank you for that obvious input Sara, kill it!”

The creature’s scales started vibrating, making a rattlesnake like noise. It snapped its jaws towards Sara, sending flecks of saliva flying.

“It won’t cut through those scales, I know it, just back up slowly Justin.”

They started making their way back towards the other room when it lunged and landed on top of Sara.

“Run!!” She screamed as she held the sword defensively, one hand on the grip the other on the flat of the blade, keeping it from getting to her face.

Justin ran, franticly looking for something to start beating the beast off of Sara.

“Hurry Justin!” Sara yelled as its jaws snapped shut uncomfortably close to her head. “I can’t hold it for much longer, it’s too strong!” It pushed harder and Sara’s grip faltered, the sword landed on her chest. Free of its limits the beast sunk its jaws into Sara’s shoulder.

“AAAAHHOW! FUCK!” Sara screamed “Justin, get it off me!”

And just as quickly as it was on her, it was off. She jumped to her feet to see Markus had knocked the beast to its back, its legs flailing wildly. Markus growled and chopped a few times to secure his grip on its throat. Not missing a beat Sara snatched up her sword and started stabbing it in its soft underside till it stopped moving.

“Good boy!” Sara said kneeling down to Markus “you’re a good, good boy!” She rubbed his head and hugged him tight with her good arm.

“What happened?” Justin said as he rushed in with a bat. “Oh my god, Sara your shoulder!”

“Yea and it would have been worse if Markus hadn’t saved me.”

“Come on, let’s get you patched up before you bleed to death.”

She stood up and followed him to the bathroom.

“Here’s some stuff you can use to clean and patch up.” Justin said taking out gauze, alcohol, bandages, and butterfly strips “I’ll . . . uh let you do your thing, call if you need help.” and he walked out.

Sara carefully took off her shirt, slowly peeling the blood soaked fabric away from her wounds, grimacing the whole time. Once it was off she ran a rag under hot water and started mopping up the blood that was still on her skin.

“Most of the bleeding stopped, that’s one up for me.” she mumbled.

She ground her teeth together as she dumped alcohol down her should and it rushed into all the puncture wounds. She let out a small yelp as she dabbed it dry with a new cloth. She closed up the holes that were still bleeding with the butterfly strips and wrapped gauze around the rest. She finished it off by wrapping the bandages all around it. She rotated her arm to make sure she still had good mobility and hadn’t wrapped it too tight. Satisfied she opened the door and walked out to find Justin.

“Hey, you got a shirt I can use, mine is toast.” Sara asked.

“Yea, gimme a sec.” Justin replied, staring intently at the ceiling.

“Oh stop being such a prude you loser.”

“Easy for you to say, you’re not the one with a half naked chick in your room.”

“Whatever,” Sara shrugged “most guys would jump all over that.”

“Sorry the impending doom hasn’t put me in the mood. Besides you’re my best friend . . . practically my sister . . . I don’t wanna see that.”

“Your loss.” Sara said as she tugged on the shirt he gave her. “Wow, just my size, awe and it’s a Halo shirt, how’d you know?”

“I don’t know, I took a guess, gamer girl!”

“Psh, don’t be sour just cause you can’t beat me.”

A crash came from out near Central Park as he was about to comment.

“Now what?!” Sara exclaimed as she ran to the window and pushed the blinds out of the way.

A pack of large human-like wolves were coming out of the trees. One was standing on top of a car, the roof caved in due to its weight.

“What is it?” Justin asked.

“Werewolves.” Sara said dryly.

“What?! Those aren’t real!”

“Come look! Maybe you can offer a better idea, besides, after what just happened are you really going to question it?”

“No, I guess you’re right.” Justin said as he joined her at the window.

“Alright, we need a game plan, bad things are going down and I don’t want to sit around here and watch it happen.”

“You saw those things out there, if we leave we are as good as dead”

“Yea! And you saw that thing IN HERE. If we stay we are no better off, we just end up boxing ourselves in with no escape route.”

“Dammit, I hate it when you’re right.” Justin grumbled “fine but if we have to go I’m taking my gun”

“A gun?! You had a fucking gun and yet you brought a bat to defend me!”

“It’s under lock and key! I didn’t have time to fumble with it.”

“You’re lucky I didn’t die, cause if I had I would have come back and killed you myself.”

“Whatever” Justin teased as he went up to a closet and opened the door. On the floor was a big safe, he knelt down and started turning the dial. With the last click he turned the handle and pulled the door open.

“There’s my baby” he said pulling out a Desert Eagle that was pitch-black.

“Damn, how much ammo do you have for that thing?”

He pulled a backpack out next and tossed it to her.

She opened it to find it was stuffed with 40-50 boxes of bullets.

“Hell, that’s a lot.”

“Yup, fifty caliber ammo is hard to come by in New York, so I stock up. I also have six extra clips that are preloaded.” He pulled out a harness that had a gun holster on one side and six clips held on the other. He put it on, slid the gun in and put a coat on over top of it all “ready?” 

“We have to figure out where we are going first.”

“Let’s just get out of the city first, then worry about that.”

“Alright.” Sara said following him out the door.

“That makes me a little nervous.” Justin said pointing to the sky.

A large black cloud was forming over Central Park, with static sparks rolling through it here and there.

“I agree, let’s get out of here.”

They both started down the road at a light jog with Markus running at their heels.

A huge crash emanated from the trees at the edge of Central Park.

“Justin, get behind a car, never know what’s gonna come out next.”

They both ducked down behind a car and peered through the windows at the woods. The ground vibrated in a steady beat that was slowly growing closer. Trees began snapping and falling over, crushing the eight foot fence. A creature that was the size of a house and looked like nothing more than a walking suit of armor stepped out from the trees that were still standing and looked up and down the street. It was dark blue with glowing red eyes that kept sweeping over their hiding spot.

“Damn that thing is big.” Justin whispered.

“Shh, don’t let it hear you!” Sara hissed.

The Iron Giant stared at the car, almost right at them.

“Too late . . .” Sara mumbled.

It reached behind its back and pulled out a monstrous cleaver. The cleaver oozed a red mist that floated up, rather than down, and dissipated about a foot above it. It lifted the cleaver and brought it down on the car, splitting it in two with a sizzle as the red mist started dissolving the metal of the car. 

“Time to run.” Justin said staring wide eyed at the massive blade that was inches away from his shoulder.

They both got up and took off down the street Markus running far ahead of them.

“Great dog!” Justin joked

“I wouldn’t wanna be here either.”

They watched as Markus turned at a street corner and barked till they got close and then took off again.

“Justin, he’s leading us somewhere, follow him!”

The Iron Giant followed them all the way to where Markus stood at an open manhole.

“Jump!” Sara yelled.

“Do we have to?”

“It’s that or die!”

They both jumped in and rolled out from under the opening.

“Markus! Come on boy!” Sara yelled

He jumped down and ran behind her.

The Iron Giant let out a metallic groan as it stared down at them.

“At least we are safe now” Justin breathed.

“Yea, safe and gross” Sara said as she brushed dirt and grime from her shirt.

Markus barked and ran several feet further down the tunnel.

“Now what Marku . . .” Sara got cut off as the cleaver crashed through the ceiling imbedding itself in the concrete feet away from them.

“Time to run again!” said Justin chasing after Markus.

“Right behind you!” Sara yelled as the cleaver slid out and the Iron Giant started prying open a hole to fit down.

Kent skulked around the city, not headed anywhere particular.

_Why is it so quite? There is something wrong. This is New York City. Or is it? There are no people. Cars are just abandoned. What could have happened to all the people? Maybe there were no people here to begin with. No, no, no. Impossible. Well, this shouldn’t work here, but let’s try it._

Kent put his hands up and closed his eyes.

_LIFE SENSE!_

He felt the rush of energy and opened his eyes. Everything in his vision had turned to a dark gray, just outlines of his surroundings.

 _There should be green somewhere. Some form of life. Even the trees are dark. What is wrong?_

He finally saw three green figures walking in the distance, but it wasn’t them that truly caught his eye. In the center of the city there stood a giant orb of swirling black and red with an outside layer of green that was twice as thick. Kent stared a bit longer before blinking away the magic.

_That is not good. That is bad magic. Bad, bad magic. It has stolen the life force of more than half the city. Is it destroying them? Or is it just feeding off them? Is that how I got back to the city? Should I go check it out? Yes. Er, no. Yes? Yes. Let’s go._

Kent ran low to the ground until he reached an alley, and ducked into it.

After a few turns, and several wet pant legs later, the pair stopped to catch their breath. Sara bent over and put her hands on her knees while Justin leaned against a wall. The sound of flowing water surrounded them.

“What. The hell. Was that?” Justin gasped

“Don’t know, don’t care. It was trying to kill us and that is all that matters.”

“Man, things are really going to shit around here.”

“Let’s get out of the sewers, with shit like that topside I don’t even wanna think about what might be down here.” Sara said as she got up and started climbing the latter to the manhole cover.

“Sure, just leave me to carry your dog.”

“Fortify, Justin.”

Justin sighed as he hefted Markus under one arm and started his way slowly up the latter. Three rungs up something grabbed his ankle and started to pull.

“Shit! Sara something’s got me!” Justin yelped thrusting his foot back. He felt it connect with something squishy and it let go. Justin took advantage and climbed as fast as he could. When he reached the top he heaved Markus out of the manhole and lifted himself out.

Once Justin was up Sara slammed the cover back over the hole. “There, got out just in time.”

“Ha ha, Justin time . . . cute” He said flatly.

“I try my best, come on, let’s go.” Sara said as she helped Justin to his feet.

“What’s next? Flying monkeys?” Justin grumbled.

“Careful, you might get ‘em.”

“Yea, well they would be a welcome change.”

“Alright, where are we?” Sara glanced around for a street sign. Dread sunk in as she realized where they were. “Justin . . .”

“What” He mumbled annoyed as he was brushing muck off his pants.

“We are IN Central Park . . .”

Justin froze and slowly lifted his head to look around “Fuck.”

“My thoughts exactly. Now what do we do?”

“Nasties above, and nasties below, what is the difference?” As he pulled out his gun and clicked the safety off.

“Alright, let’s do this.” Sara pulled out her katana.

Following the signs they made their way towards the exit. As they came around a bend they noticed an over turned trash can with something digging through it.

“Hey! That’s the little prick that threw the fireball at me!” Sara pointed at the little red imp that was rummaging through the trash.

It jumped up and stared at them.

“Come here asshole!” Sara yelled running at it.

The imp started babbling and jumping up and down, and another imp, only blue, crawled out of the trash can and joined in.

Sara swung at the imp and hit a cloud of smoke as it poofed away.

“Dammit! Get back here pussy!”

“Behind you Sara!” Justin yelled as it appeared behind her.

She swung and hit another cloud of smoke.

“Shiiiiit!”

The blue imp leapt from the trash and sunk its teeth into Sara’s leg.

“Gah! You little fucker!” Sara growled as she brought the sword down, impaling the imp.

“Ha ha! Got one!” Sara cheered. “One left”

A tiny rock flew out of a bush and hit Sara in the head.

“Ooo! That is IT!” She ran over to the bush and started swinging at it wildly. A tiny shriek came out followed by a wisp of smoke. Sara reached down and pulled one of its horns off the ground.

“Nicked ya, ya little prick” She pocketed the horn and walked back to the path.

“Well if that’s the worst that we come by, I’ll be happy” Justin commented.

“Don’t get your hopes up just yet. We still got a ways till we’re out of here.”

“Yea, don’t remind me.”

She sheathed her katana and started back down the path.

“Hey! Wait for me Sara!” Justin yelled chasing after her fading figure. As he rounded a bend he skidded to a stop in front of a huge crevice. “Jesus Christ” he muttered and looked over to Sara who was standing wide eyed and mouth open.

“Took the words right out of my mouth Justin.” She replied as she kicked a rock off the edge and leaned over to watch it fall.

The rift dropped down for miles leading to a red glow that was very faint and pulsing. The ground rumbled and a huge column of flame jetted into the air.

Sara yelped and jumped back “This is insane!”

“Yea! Let’s get out of here before it gets worse!”

“There you go with that damn word again!”

Joseph yawned and placed his bookmark in the pages of his favorite book and placed it next to his pillow. He stretched as much as he could in his small bunk and lay down to sleep. He just started to drift off as an alarm started blaring throughout the whole army base. He and every other soldier in his barracks jumped out of their beds and rushed to get their gear on.

Joseph rushed outside and filed into rank with everyone else and stood attention.

“Listen up soldiers!” the Generals voice boomed over the P.A. system “this is not a drill, there is a major situation in New York City, and it is our job to clean it up! We don’t have a lot of Intel on what’s going on but it sounds like hell out there, be ready for anything. Move out!”

Joseph ran to the Hummvee and piled in with the rest of his five man group. He crawled to the back as he heard the tires dig into the ground, lurching the car forward. Bracing himself on the seats he continued back towards the gunner hatch. He pushed it open and stood up to start inspecting his mounted machine gun. He turned it left and right, spun it up but didn’t fire it, and checked the ammo feed.

“Everything in working order up there Joe?” came a female voice over his head set.

“Locked and loaded Calli” he replied. She was the team leader and one of the best shots he had ever seen. The driver and explosives expert was Brad, and the other two were Sam and Travis. He closed the hatch and took the rear most seat.

“So what’s goin on that’s so bad?” Joe asked.

“I heard there are monsters and shit runnin’ around.” Travis replied.

“Monsters?” Brad mocked “What is this, the fucking twilight zone?”

“No, I heard it too.” Sam cut in “Heard it’s related to some rift that trashed Central Park.”

“Where did you guys get all this?” Joe asked.

“Maybe if you weren’t such a fuckin’ book worm and actually got out with the rest of us you’d know a thing or two.” Brad sneered.

“Alright soldiers, cool it.” Calli interjected “We don’t know anything for sure, and the rest is speculation. Let’s leave it at that.”

“Sir” they all replied.

The next few minutes of driving were rather silent until . . .

“Holy shit!” Brad yelled as he jerked the wheel sharply to the left in an attempt to avoid the ball of fire that used to be the hummvee they were following.

Joe pushed the hatch open and spun up the gun waiting for a target.

They sped past the burning carcass of the hummvee and saw the metal was already red hot and caving in on itself.

“Anyone have a visual?” Joe yelled over his headset.

“Negative.” Calli replied.

“Well what the fuck did that?”

“Beta Team” a voice cut over their headsets “bogie is airborne, I repeat bogie is airborne!”

Joe dropped down and turned the barrel towards the sky. What he saw almost stopped his heart cold. The sun was blotted out by the massive hulk of a dragon.

“Joseph fire!” Calli’s voice rang in his head.

Joe shook himself from his stupor and squeezed the trigger of the gun as hard as he could. Bullets ripped from the barrel with a fierce and methodical thrum.

The mighty beast shuddered and roared as the rounds sunk into its soft underside. It banked quickly to avoid more gun fire and Joe tried to follow it as best he could. It tucked its wings behind it and rocketed towards Joe’s hummvee.

“Shit shit shit! Brad step on it!” Joe yelled.

The hummvee sped up but the dragon kept right on course. Joe kept firing rounds at it but most of them bounced off its hard scales.

“Dammit! I can’t hit the damn thing!” Joe yelled.

Suddenly a huge explosion erupted from the dragon’s neck, causing it to falter and plummet to the ground. Joe followed the trail of smoke from where the dragon used to be to the hummvee behind them. A guy was hanging out of the window holding a used RPG canister giving him a thumb up.

“Good shit . . .” Joe radioed. He slid back into his seat and closed the hatch.

“See? Told ya, monsters.” Travis said smugly. “Ya, ya, Travis we get the point.” Brad replied.

“Be on alert guys, still 45 minutes till we are close enough to New York to quarantine it.” Calli cut in.

Sara and Justin crashed through the bushes and trees as fast as they could.

“Is it still chasing us?” Justin yelled.

“I don’t know! But feel free to take a look!” Sara yelled back.

Their mad dash led them straight to one of the fences surrounding the park. She kneeled down and laced her fingers together and gave Justin a boost over the fence. She gave a worried look backwards then squeezed herself through the bars. Justin flopped down onto the sidewalk panting out of breath. Sara stood hands on her knees trying to catch her breath and staring back through the fence.

“Come on Markus . . .” she whispered to herself. Almost as if on command the bushes started rustling. She walk to the bars and whispered his name again. She was just about to slip back through the bars when a huge muscled beast with horns burst from the green and rammed itself into the fence. Sara stumbled back and fell on top of Justin. The behemoth starting tearing at the fence, opening it up bar by bar.

“Come on Sara, he’ll be fine, right now we need to get outta here!” Justin yelled as he picked her up. She took one last look to woods before running down the road with Justin.

The behemoth charged down the road after them, trashing everything in its path.

“Justin, we are never ganna out run this thing!”

“Don’t say that! Just keep running!”

As they ran a thunderous roar filled the air as a jet screamed past above them, it was followed by a low hiss and an explosion behind them.

They wheeled around to see the thing chasing them crumpled into a smoldering heap with the smell of burning hair slowly getting stronger.

“Score one for the military!” Justin whooped as he pumped his fist in the air.

“Minus one for us . . .” Sara said softly as she pointed to the quivering hulk.

“Awe hell.”

The behemoth slowly stood and gazed at them with what was left of its face, a gaping hole where one of its eyes used to be and all the flesh from the side of its jowls dangling limply from its chin. It uttered a low gurgling growl and black blood oozed from its mouth and pooled on the ground.

“Justin, how good of a shot are you?”

“Sara, if a missile can’t stop that thing, what makes you think a 50 cal can?”

“Nothing lives without a brain Justin, or just shoot out its other eye, ANYTHING!”

“Fine!” Justin grumbled raising his Eagle up to aim “take this!” and fired three shots into its remaining eye. The creature half roared half gurgled in pain as it shook its head from side to side, spattering everything around it in its black blood. After its fit it turned its mangled blackened face back towards them and gurgled again, bringing forth a fresh surge of blood.

“That’s just unholy.” Sara shuddered.

Justin took aim and pumped three more rounds into its empty eye socket, which caused the beast to shudder and collapse on the ground. “Good riddance.”

“I’m going back.” Sara stated and marched back towards the park.

“You can’t go back there, it’s suicide!”

“Markus didn’t hesitate to save my life, and I plan on returning the favor.”

“Ugh, you and your dog.” Justin grumbled as he jogged to catch up with her.

Once they got back to the gaping hole the behemoth tore in the fence Sara started shouting for Markus.

“Shhhh!” Justin hissed “yelling might attract some rather unwanted attention.”

“Well what do you recommend I do?”

“Did you bring any treats with you?”

“Yea, and while I’m at it I might as well see if the monsters can’t tell it’s not really bacon too.” Sara replied sarcastically.

“Hey, I was just tryin’ to help.”

“Maybe he’s deeper in the park.”

A rustle in the bushes made Justin pull his gun.

Joe’s Hummvee skidded to a stop as it reached an intersection clogged with abandoned cars.

“See any way through this mess up there Joe?” Calli’s voice barked from his headset.

“Not anything easy sir, the alley over there might get us past it, but there’s no way to tell if it’s a dead end or not.”

“We have to get to Central Park, they need an assessment before they can set up a successful perimeter to quarantine New York.”

The hummer lurched as Brad threw it in reverse and spun the tires as she swung it around. The engine revved as she gunned it towards the ally and everything went dark as the hummer slid between the buildings.

“Let there be light!” Brad exclaimed as the hummers flood lights kicked on, illuminating the dark alley brighter than day. “Ha! Let’s see any of those beasties try to get the jump on us with that!”

Almost as if the challenge had been accepted, the back of the hummer let out a deafening metallic groan followed by several cracking and crashing noises and ended with the rear end much lower than it used to be and a shower of sparks. Joe swiveled his turret around just in time to see a slimy tentacle dragging their rear axle, tires and all, down a manhole.

“What the hell was that?” Calli called over the headset.

“Well sir, it would seem as though Brad pissed something off enough for it to retaliate.”

Brad jumped out of the driver’s seat and walked to the back of the hummvee. “Dammit!” he shouted and kicked the bumper “You owe me a new truck you son of a bitch!” he yelled towards the manhole.

“Good job Brad.” Travis said as he came around the other side of the hummvee.

“Enough!” Calli shouted “We still have to get to Central Park, and now we have no transport, we move out on foot, now step to it!”

They grabbed as much gear out of their crippled car as they could carry and headed down the alley with their rifles at the ready.

A loud crash echoed through the dark ally and a man with a mess of sandy blonde hair stood up from behind a trash can, glancing fearfully around.

_Relax Kent._ He told himself _I’m sure it was just a cat. They have those here. Or do they? They did when I lived here. But that was a long time ago. Or was it? Maybe time passes differently here. Like in the ‘Wizard of Oz’ movie. But that was a dream. Was I dreaming? Am I still dreaming? This place smells worse than it used too._

A roar and a bright flash of light caused Kent to jump behind a dumpster. He watched as a large yellowish vehicle crept by his hiding spot, leaving darkness in its wake. He could hear some men shouting in a language he hadn’t heard in many years. He strained to remember the meaning of the words then went pale as he saw a green and purple tentacle slithering on the ground after the vehicle.

_No! No, no, no, no! What is a Roc-Shaw doing here? This is the Antimagus plane . . . what else has slipped through the barrier?!_

He wanted to shout to the men on the vehicle, to warn them, but he couldn’t bring the words to mind. He saw a second tentacle start probing at his hiding spot.

 _Too late! Time to go!_ Kent squeezed his eyes shut held a hand out till he felt the slimy appendage. _SPARK!_

Electricity jumped down his arm and conducted into the Roc-Shaw. It reeled back and Kent leapt from behind the dumpster and ran, flailing, from the alleyway.

“Alright, just a block or so till we reach the park.” Calli confirmed as the team emerged from the dark and back out onto the city streets “Sam take point.”

Sam walked towards the edge of the street when he dropped his gun and hit the ground.

“You alright there Sam?” Travis asked as he held his hand out to help him up.

“Yea, felt like something tripped me.” Sam replied as he took Travis’s hand. As Travis went to hoist Sam up they both fell flat and Sam started to slid under a car. “Shit! Something’s got my leg!” Sam shouted. Travis clamored towards him and held onto his backpack. Brad ran over and started firing off rounds at the ground near Sam’s feet.

“I don’t even see anything!” Brad yelled over the sound of his gun.

Sam screamed as long rips appeared in his pants that quickly became soaked in blood. Brad swung his gun, bullets streaming out of the muzzle, and there was a splash of green against the car. The air began to ripple and a giant, purple lizard with six legs seemed to appear out of nowhere. It snarled with a wide mouthful of jagged teeth. Green blood leaked from several holes in its side when Brad had managed to tag it.

“Holy Shit!” Brad shouted as he jumped backwards, raising his gun level with the creature and squeezing the trigger. The lizard side stepped and started to scurry off towards a sewer, but not before stopping to take a mouthful of flesh from Sam’s neck.

Sam’s screams echoed around the empty street and slowly died to a gurgle as he clamped his hand around the gushing hole in his neck. Calli and Travis rushed to his side to try and stop the bleeding, but he was dead before they even got to him.

Calli yanked Sam’s blood stained dog tags from his neck and stuffed them into one of her pockets. “Come on, there’s nothing more we can do, we need to get to Central Park if we have any hope of stopping this.”

“With all due respect _Sir_ ,” Brad cut in “how exactly do you expect us to stop something we can’t even see?”

“Stow it Brad.” Calli glared at him.

“Why are we still going? This is madness!”

Calli stormed over to Brad and came chest to chest with him. Even being a head shorter than most people she still seemed menacing. She grabbed him by the collar and pulled his face to hers. “You have your orders _soldier_ , now shut it and Fall. In. Rank.

A gun shot rang through the air and caused the group to stop and listen for any other noise.

“That was close, could be civilians in trouble, move out!” Calli shouted.

Kent stood at the edge of The Crevasse. A serious air had fallen on him.

_This shouldn’t exist. This is dangerous. Could it be? A link between the worlds?_

Kent closed his eyes.

_TRUE SIGHT!_

He opened his eyes. The crevasse had turned into a long dark tube that dropped into the planet, with no seeable end. The outer rim of the tube was gnashing, spiny teeth coated in blood and hunks of flesh. Kent’s stomach twisted as he looked to the ground. Wave after wave of people, clawing at the ground, were being drawn into the maws of the tube. Each person that went in was followed by a scream and a splash of gore as their bodies were torn apart by the teeth. Screams and cries filled Kent’s ears. Pleads for help from the few that noticed him. The crunching of bone and cartilage as the great maws chewed through the former citizens of New York City. Kent’s mind raced as he stood, paralyzed with fear.

_These poor souls. They are feeling all of this. Who would do such a thing? They are all lost to The Pit, doomed to suffer for eternity. Why would someone create a link that was fueled by the life force of people? Real living people. What was the population of the city? What . . what were they trying to bring through?_

A blood curdling scream uprooted Kent. Stumbling over his feet he fled, crashing through the underbrush. 

“STOP!” Sara shouted as she pushed Justin’s hand into the air and causing the gun to go off. “It’s Markus!”

“Dammit Sara, don’t do that, I coulda shot the dog, or even you!” Justin shouted as he dug a finger into his ringing ear.

Markus hesitantly stepped out of the bush and nuzzled Sara, who had squatted down to greet him. “Well maybe if you weren’t so trigger happy with that thing, whipping it out at every damn sound.”

“Have you not been seeing the same things I have? Does none of this make you even alittle jumpy?”

“Justin, I’ve played enough video games to know not to be jumpy.”

“This isn’t a video game Sara! This is real life! This is happening!”

“I know it’s not a video game Justin, I’m just saying that I’ve picked up some helpful skills from them.”

“You two! Was that gun shot from either of you?” A voice boomed from across the street.

“We’re saved.” Justin sighed as he spotted the group “The military is here.”

“Yea, it was us, we just had a little mishap is all!” Sara shouted back.

“I’m going to have to ask you to come with us for your own protection.” A woman’s voice shouted back.

“Well, you don’t have to ask me twice.” Justin chuckled to Sara.

A woman led the group of Marines over to them. She approached the two while the others took up a defensive perimeter.

“What are you two doing out here?” the woman snapped.

“Well, our apartment was invaded, so we decided we would rather try to get out of the city ourselves.” Justin piped up.

She glared hard at them. “Alright, I’m Calli, and from now on you do everything I tell you to. Is that clear?”

Sara and Justin nodded in understanding.

“Good, now our first stop is inside Central Park.”

“NO!” They both shouted.

“You do not want to go in there.” Sara chimed in first.

“Oh no. All the nasties have come straight from there.” Justin thrusted his finger towards the park.

“Well it isn’t your call. I need to get back with a SitRep A.S.A.P.”

“I’ll tell you what the situation is in there.” Sara half shouted “It’s fucking bad!”

Everyone wheeled around towards the park as a ragged man flew from the wrecked fence of the park, spouting gibberish. The sandy haired man froze in place as he saw all the people pointing guns at him. Sara thought she saw the air around him suddenly shimmer, but passed it off as stress.

“Who are you?” Calli shouted.

The man remained silent. Staring at us all.

“Now! I want your name. What were you doing in there?”

He still remained quiet, but now it seemed like he was studying the words she said.

“Brad, Travis. If he moves so much as an inch, shoot him. You have to the count of three to respond, or I’ll have my men shoot you dead regardless.”

The man’s purple eyes lit up as though he finally understood.

“Roight.” The man spouted with a thick cockney accent. “English English, I remember how this goes now. Weird, that’s not ‘ow it sounds in my ‘ead. Anywho. No need for the guns lovey. I mean you, nor your troupe, any ‘arm. Names Kent.” And he followed with a flourished bow.

Calli raised an eyebrow. “What were you doing in there? What’s happening?”

“Ah dearie, it would be ‘ard for a mudge such as yourself to comprehend, but I’ll do mah best.”

Travis nudged Brad and whispered “What the fuck did he call her?”

“A mudge, mate. ‘Earing is better than you think. It means a person that wasn’t born with the ability to use magic.”

“Magic?” Brad scoffed “Calli, this guy is a loony. Let’s just go.”

A wall of fire erupted in front of the fence and Kent smirked and went on.

“What is loony is goin’ in there if you are a mudge. Now there is a portal in there that is feedin’ off of human energy. That’s where all your poor New Yorkers got off too. Now, anyone not able to wield magic gets to close to that thing and BAM sucked in like the rest.”

Sara and Justin looked at each other in silence.

“Now it is just sittin’ there spoutin’ all sorts ah monsters this realm hasn’t seen in ‘undreds of years.”

“Wait a damn minute.” Calli growled “You expect us to believe that? And how do you know so much?”

“Really love? You need more proof than my fire wall?” Kent sighs “Fine.”

Three small rocks lift from the ground and float to Kent’s hand, where they hover for a moment before they start drifting in lazy concentric circles.

“As for how I know. I’ve spent more time than I like to admit stuck on the other side of that portal.” 

“Well then, what is that?” Sara asked as she stared at the huge dark clouds rolling in from all directions, merging above the park.

Kent closed his eyes for a moment then stared up at the clouds. “Well that, is a hell of a storm.” He looked back to Sara and paused, a puzzled look on his face. “You three . .”

A giant green bolt of lightning crashed through the clouds and streaked into the middle of the park.

Kent’s eyes snapped back to the sky.

Five more bolts lit up the thick black clouds as they shot to the ground in rapid succession.

Kent’s eye gave a twitch. “No.”

After a few seconds a bolt as thick as the Empire State building dropped straight down into the park and held for what felt like an eternity to anyone watching. The result was a shockwave that knocked everyone off of their feet.

Kent quickly struggled to his feet to stare off towards the rift. “That? That love, is us runnin’. Now. Very fast.”

Everyone got to their feet and look towards the park.

“That was defiantly one of the strangest things I’ve ever seen. Top ten for sure.” Brad rattled.

“Top five for me.” Travis chuckled.

“I’m dead serious! That thing is ‘eaded towards full blown World Scar! Let’s go! Pure magic is goin’ tah be spillin’ out of that thing any minute!”

“What are you babbling about?” Calli shouted.

“You know what? Fine. Don’t say I didn’t warn ya.” Kent turned and took off away from the park.

Sara looked to Justin and he looked right back and nodded.

“Let’s get outta here Markus!” she said as they chased after Kent.

“Fuck this, it’s above my paygrade.” Joe spat as he followed suit.

“Dammit Joe! You get your ass back here!” Callie shouted after him.

_As the brightness of the last bolt of lightning fades the pulse at the bottom of the rift begins to grow brighter and faster. The ground rumbles and the rift starts to spread wider, the edges finally ripping past the perimeter of Central park. A light blue mist, almost the color of steel begins to creep out, spreading into the park. Every plant it touches begins to contort into strange angles and increase in size. Trees start to swell and reach for the sky. The mist moves with a sentience, whisking from tree to tree, making sure nothing goes untouched. The sound of a content sigh, just at the point of a whisper, fills the air as the mist reaches the gates of Central Park._

Sara, Justin, Kent, Joe, and Markus traipsed their way across an empty street, on guard for anything that might jump from the shadows.

“I think it’s time we got off this damn island and onto the main land.” Joe muttered darkly.

“The Queensboro Bridge should be the closest, it’s Long Island, but it should be safer than it is here.” Justin said with a pained look.

“No good, they will have most of the bridges secured by now. No one in or out, not yet.

“What about the tunnels? The Lincoln will take us straight to New Jersey, but it would be a hell of a walk.”

“It’s worth a shot I guess.” Joe grumbled and stalked over to a car and shouted “Military business, I am commandeering your vehicle!” then smashed the window with the butt of his rifle. “Now we don’t have to walk.”

“Was that legal?” Sara raised an eyebrow.

“Really?” Joe exasperated “Really? That’s what you are worried about right now?”

“Man’s got a point love. Best get movin’.” Kent walked to the car. “But ‘ow you gonna start it? Got the key, mate?”

Joe stared blankly into the distance.

“Didn’t think so. Guess this is where I come in handy, less somebody knows ‘ow to ‘otwire? Didn’t think so.” Kent jerked the door open, brushed glass off the seat and sat down. “Get in then!”

Kent probed around the steering column while the others crammed into the car. His fingers nimbly pulled the plastic cover off and he quickly found the wires to the ignition.

“An’ with a little jolt.” The car’s engine turned over and grumbled to life. “Whew” Kent chuckled as he looked back at everyone “Any newer and that trick wouldn’t ‘ave worked. Now, ‘ow do you make it go?” 

The car filled with frustrated groans.

“Jus’ kiddin’, I know ‘ow to drive.” His hands flew across the controls like he was a NASCAR driver, and the car peeled out of the parking space and down the road.

The car ground to a halt as the reached a main road. It was clogged with crashed cars, some of them still running, as though everyone had just decided to get out of their cars and walk away all at once.

“Oh my god . .” Sara gasped.

“What happened?” Justin asked as he stared out the window. “It’s so creepy.”

“I told ya.” Kent mumbled. “The Rift swallowed up everyone in Manhattan. Took ‘em from right where they sat. Evil magic.”

“That’s almost 2 million people!” Joe shouted. “You can’t be serious. TWO MILLION people . . just up and died all at the same time?”

“Not at all.”

“Make some damn sense man!”

“They aren’t dead. Well, at least, MOST of them aren’t.”

“What?”

“Ugh, stupid mudges. The Rift stole ‘em away. First it destroyed their physical bodies in order to manifest itself in this world. Physical energy is needed to make physical things. So now that leaves a giant hole and 2 million souls hanging around. The hole is just a hole without any link to the other realm. That’s where you mudges get it all wrong with your stupid animal sacrifices, you need body AND mind. So, that’s where the souls come in, the spiritual energy. It breaks them down one by one for the energy to sustain the connection between worlds. Think of them as being stuck in a ghost larder. That is why it is evil magic. Those people are still alive, watching as the others, watching themselves, get torn to shreds for their energy.” Kent closed his eyes as if in pain. “The rift feeding off all that pain and fear. It’s not right.”

The car remained quiet for a few moments before someone finally spoke.

“Is there any way to stop it?” Sara murmured.

“Don’t know.” Kent whispered. “But I would like to try.” He maneuvered the car out into the street and started down the road, weaving in and out of cars on his way to the tunnel.

Kent slowed as the approached the entrance of the tunnels. Markus let out a small whimper from the back seat.

“My thoughts exactly, boy.” Sara agreed as she stared into the darkness.

“Not to make things worse, but it looks like the car won’t make it.” Justin pointed to the tunnels. “All those cars blocking the way.”

Kent kicked his door open “Well, speak now or forever hold yer piece.” He swung out of the car and headed for the tunnels.

One by one they all got out of the car and made their way to the barricade of twisted metal that used to be traffic.

Joe raised his rifle and switched on the flashlight attachment. He held it into the darkness and took a defensive position on the trunk of a car. “Power is out. I’ll watch your backs as you climb over. Make it quick.”

Justin pulled his gun and climbed up onto a car. With steady steps he made his way to the other side of the wreckage, Kent not far behind him. Sara was trying to weave between bumpers while leading a stubborn Markus through.

“Come on dog.” She grumbled as she pulled on his collar “I don’t like it either, but it is kind of our only option.” Markus whimpered and dug his feet into the ground. “Ugh, stubborn dog.”

An orb of glowing light floated up from behind the wall of cars and illuminated a 30 foot section of the tunnel.

“You guys commin’?” Kent shouted.

Joe moved from behind the car and circled around behind Markus and helped Sara push him along into the tunnel.


End file.
